Boris Johnson has said that the boost to the 'national sense of
self-confidence' from hosting a successful Olympic Games should be used to
steer young people away from riots and 'bad behaviour'.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the shooting by police of taxi driver Mark Duggan in Tottenham, which triggered widespread riots across major cities, the Mayor of London said that sport and the Olympic spirit were among the many solutions which were needed to tackle alienation by young people.

He said: "In the crowds cheering on ... you saw an unleashing of a really extraordinary feeling. It is pride. We have got to keep the forward momentum. We have got to alchemise it, to bottle it.

"We have got to show that this is a city and a country that can really do amazing things and be confident in ourselves. I think that sport and the Olympics play a role."

The first anniversary of the riots is being marked by the unveiling of a mosaic showing 4,000 images of young people carrying signs with positive statements on them. It will be installed at House of Reeves, in Croydon, south London, site of a furniture which was burned to the ground during the riots.

Mr Johnson said that the good-will around the Olympics, and the potential for involving youngsters in competitive sport, was only part of the solution to the problems which led to the riots.

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He insisted that economic regeneration had taken place in disadvantaged areas such as Tottenham and Croydon, and said that young unemployment was being tackled with more apprenticeships.

"The best single long term solution for rioting and bad behaviour by young people, that is to get them into work," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme. "We are doing a huge amount. We are seeing big economic impacts in places like Tottenham.

"What the riots revealed was, I'm afraid, was a deep social problem which requires lots of solutions.

"There was a culture, I am afraid, of instant gratification. The Olympics, with a very, very clear message about effort and achievement and what it takes to [succeed], the two could not come at a better time for a country getting used to a life without easy credit."

Mr Johnson denied suggestions that the Games had a Left-wing tone, which had been set by the Opening Ceremony directed by Danny Boyle, featuring a celebration of the National Health Service and images of workers throwing off their Victorian oppressors. Agreeing that the Games were a celebration of multiculturalism and unity, he said the Olympics opitomised former Tory prime minister Sir John Major's vision of a country "at ease with itself".

He said: "That is exactly what Conservatives believe. It is an idea of community, it's about doing everything together.

"This is a competition. Kids around this country are seeing that there is a direct correlation between effort and achievement.

"The more you put in, the more you get out. That's a wonderful lesson for life."

Mr Johnson said he was delighted, so far, with the way the Games had panned out. "It has gone about as well as we could have conceivably expected," he added. "That great kind of worry that people had about London has been triumphantly removed. I'm about as pleased as I possibly could be, counting no chickens."

Chief Constable Ian Learmonth of Kent Police, a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers, told said police had done some constructive thinking in the year since the riots.

The “important lesson” they had learned was to consider whether they were able to get beat officers, who are used to normal policing duties, to deal with situations like last summer’s, he said.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: "Twelve months on from the August riots, we remember those who lost their lives.

"And we think of the families and small business owners whose homes and livelihoods were damaged or lost.

"Twelve months on, more needs to be done to learn the lessons and take action to prevent it happening again.

"It is very disappointing that the Government has so far failed to set out a proper course of action."